Holder backs Gayle to come good in England

Jason Holder has backed Chris Gayle to make a big impact on his One-Day International comeback, against England starting with the first game on Tuesday in Manchester.

The game at Old Trafford is set to be Gayle’s first ODI since the ICC World Cup 2015, where he made the first double-century in the competition’s history, smashing a blistering 215 against Zimbabwe in Canberra.

Having spent more than two years on the sidelines due to troubled relations with the Windies board, Gayle returned to Twenty20 International action on his home ground at Sabina Park in Kingston, in July. And he showed he had lost little of his ability to score rapidly with a blazing 40 off 21 balls as Windies beat England by 21 runs in the lone T20I of the tour at Chester-le-Street on Saturday.

Gayle has scored 9221 runs, including 22 centuries, in 269 ODIs at a strike-rate of 85.11.

Holder welcomed Gayle’s impending return to the ODI team, “It’s obviously a huge boost. The calibre of player Chris is, you can expect really good things from him. He showed some form in the T20 game and had some good form in our CPL (Caribbean Premier League) competition recently concluded.

“I’m really looking forward to having him back. He seems up for the challenge, he seems upbeat and really happy to be back. I’m looking forward to good things from Chris.”

Holder, not in the T20I squad after leading Windies in a 2-1 Test series loss to England earlier in the tour, said his side could take some confidence from the win at Chester-le-Street, where it overcame cold and wet conditions to record a convincing victory over England in a repeat of last year’s World Twenty20 final in Kolkata.

“That result should give us a bit of momentum, albeit a T20 game,” said Holder. “We are professional athletes, we know what to expect here in English conditions. A few of the guys have played here before, a few played the T20 game coming into this one.

“From all reports it was difficult in Durham with the wet outfield but it’s something we’ve grown to expect and you’ve just got to adapt and adjust to it.”

Windies must win the upcoming series either 5-0 or 4-0 with a tie or no-result if it wants to gain direct entry into the 2019 ICC World Cup in England. A failure to do so would mean that Windies, the 1975 and 1979 world champions, cannot overtake Sri Lanka, currently No. 8 in the ODI rankings. Only the top seven sides apart from hosts England, currently No. 4, as of September 30 will qualify directly for the 50-over showpiece event in 2019. Teams that do not gain direct entry will get another shot through a qualifying tournament.

“The guys are up for the challenge. We’ve obviously got some new faces coming back into the side and it’s exciting times for our cricket,” said Holder. “We are still at a stage where we are looking to rebuild and hopefully these guys coming back can bring a lot of experience and expertise to what we are doing.”